


I Second That Emotion

by waroftheposes



Category: Shameless (US)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Fluff, M/M, Pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-08
Updated: 2015-02-08
Packaged: 2018-03-11 04:12:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,450
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3313463
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/waroftheposes/pseuds/waroftheposes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The words written in a scrawl on the inside of  Ian's arm don't make him excited to meet his soulmate. Doesn't mean he doesn't want to hear them. He wants them to be said, then laughed about for years to come. The words themselves might not be heartwarming, but the fact that they will come from of Ian’s soulmate makes them special.</p>
            </blockquote>





	I Second That Emotion

**Author's Note:**

> I was told to write a Gallavich soulmates AU. I have delivered.
> 
> Big thanks to [Nicole](http://wizzardblizzard.tumblr.com), [Blair](http://linguisticjubilee.tumblr.com) and also Addie, betas who read this and laughed about all my misspellings. You guys are gems.

The first words Mandy Milkovich had ever said to Ian were not tattooed on his body, though he never expected them to be. Ian very decidedly doesn’t play for Mandy’s team. That being said, the fact that both Ian and Mandy know that they aren’t soulmates isn’t stopping Mandy from hitting on Ian. 

It is the same thing over and over again. During school, on his walk home, during work. It is like Mandy Malkovich is determined to follow him around until he gives up and fucks her.

He isn’t going to do that. Because he won’t be able to get it up long enough to stick it in her. Also because the first words she ever said to him are not tattooed on his body.

Not that the words written in a scrawl on the inside of his arm make him excited to meet his soulmate. Still, Ian _wants_ those words to be a misunderstanding. He wants them to be said, then laughed about for years to come. The words might not be heartwarming, but the fact that they will come from of Ian’s soulmate makes them special.

Either way he dodges Mandy. He makes up excuses when she asks to hang out and finds places to hide when he runs out of excuses. It actually makes him sad because Mandy has always seemed like a pretty cool girl, and he wouldn’t have minded hanging out with her.

He walks into work three days after Mandy decides she wants him to find her behind the cash register, leaning against the counter and reading a magazine. She looks up once Ian comes in and gives him a wave.

Ian raises a hand weakly. “You work here now?”

She shrugs. “Nah,” she says, putting the magazine down and walking around the counter to get closer to him. “I got in here and your boss was gone so,” she gestures to herself, apparently thinking that answer enough.

“Um,” Ian says, “Did you want to buy something?”

Mandy smiles. Takes a step closer to him. “No, just came by to see you.”

Ian smiles and nods. Tries to step away from her. “That’s cool. Well I’ve got work now.” 

He turns to walk away but she grabs his arm, making him turn around to face her again.

“I have been sending you signals for the past fucking week,” she says and Ian raises his brows. _Three days_ , he wants to supply, but he doesn’t want her to hit him in the balls. “What the fuck is wrong with you?”

She looks less angry and more frustrated, like Ian’s behavior is unnecessarily baffling.

“Mandy,” he says, freeing his arm from her strong grip. “What was the first thing you ever said to me?

Many glares. “How the fuck should I know?”

Ian sighs. “Exactly,” he says, and turns to walk to the back of the store, where he knows his  apron is hung. 

“What?” Mandy is saying behind him, he doesn’t turn around to look at her. “What does that mean?” 

Ian ignores her as he puts on his apron and heads to the cashier’s desk to wait for Kash. It’s not too hard to figure out what he meant by that. Mandy’s not stupid, she’ll figure it out. 

And she does. About two minutes after Ian has sat down, she walks to the counter and lifts her shirt. Her tattoo is right on her belly, below her belly button and above the line of her pants. He looks at it, then at her, and she nods her head towards her middle. 

“Read it, moron,” she says, as way of explanation.

“Your bodyguard might kill me any minute,” Ian reads. “Would you mind calling him off?” He finishes, and looks up at her. 

“So?”

“So that’s my soulmate tattoo. No one’s said these words to me yet. Doesn’t mean shit. I fuck whoever I want.”

Ian sighs. He doesn’t do that. Not even when a kid in gym class had offered to blow him in exchange for a handjob. Not even when Kash had come to him, promising free things from the store for a quick hook up. He looks up at Mandy’s annoyed expression as she pulls her shirt back down and thinks about how he wouldn’t be able to sleep with her even if he messed around with non-soulmates.

He doesn’t tell her that though.

“Mandy, I’m just not interested ok? You’re not my soulmate, so drop it?”

Mandy let’s an exasperated sound leave her mouth. “But why?”

“Just because,” Ian says, avoiding her eyes. She doesn’t need to know why. It’s not like it’s any of her business.

Mandy studies him for a moment. 

“Whatever, your loss,” she says finally, and leaves.

—

And Ian thinks that’s the end of that. She wasn’t upset when she left. Annoyed and angry yes, but not upset. He counts himself as lucky that it hasn’t ended badly. 

That is, until the next day when he’s back at work. He’s stocking shelves with his back to the door. He can hear Kash humming, which is somewhat annoying. He hears the door ring, announcing a new customer. He ignores that just like he ignores Kash’s humming.

He doesn’t hear footsteps, though he really should have. Later, he’ll blame it on his ability to block out all the noise in the store for his own comfort. Still, he should have been listening because when he realizes that someone is standing directly behind him, it’s too late for him to move.

“You have ten seconds to run before I bash your head in,” someone whispers in his ear, and Ian stiffens. 

The words echo in his head, the same ones that are burned in his arm. He had looked at them every night and thought about how he would act when someone finally said them to him. He’d come up with plans, thought of what his response would be, depending on the tone his soulmate used. He had practiced this. Thought he was ready for it. He had never thought he’d freeze the way he does.

Ten seconds. What should he do? What could he do? He’s been waiting for someone to say those exact words to him. He’s been dreading someone saying those exact words to him. Ian’s mind races. His soulmate. Here. Right behind him.

Then he hears his soulmate curse and he bolts. He doesn’t look back as he sets off, crashing into the store’s door, running faster than he ever had down the street towards safety, towards home.

It isn’t until he’s caught his breath, safely tucked into his own bed with the front and back doors locked that he realizes he didn’t even see his soulmate’s face. 

The realization hits him harder than his soulmate’s words had. The boy, whoever he was, could have had many reasons to say those words. Ian though, he hadn’t even considered the thought of staying. He’d left his soulmate seconds after hearing his voice, without even looking at him. It was so stupid! So impulsive. He had had _one_ chance to meet his soulmate and he’d blown it. What if he never got the chance again? What if he never saw his soulmate again?

Ian shudders, despite the blankets wrapped around him, and tries to keep himself from freaking out. What’s done is done, he keeps repeating, blinking rapidly to keep the tears away. If the boy really is his soulmate, they’ll meet again, right?

Still, it hurts. It hurts that his first moment with his soulmate had been ruined due to his own cowardice. Of course, the words said to him were cruel, but he’d let them overcome his common sense. Ian lets his head drop on the pillow, closing his eyes and feeling hot tears trickle from beneath his closed lids.

Whatever, he tells himself. Whatever, the asshole isn’t worth it.

But he is, another part of his mind supplies. Of course he is. He’s Ian’s soulmate. Whoever he may be, whatever he may have said, he’s still Ian’s. And soulmates, once they’re found, are always worth it.

Ian falls asleep with the two thoughts looping in his mind. Lip wakes him up right before dinner, takes one look at him, and sits down on Ian’s bed. 

“What the hell happened to you?” he asks.

Ian thinks about telling him what happened. Lip’s one of the only people who’s seen his tattoo, Lip would probably understand. Ian doesn’t tell him though. Instead, he says he’s tired because of work. Which, technically, is not a lie.

Lip doesn’t look like he believes Ian, but he shrugs and drags Ian downstairs for dinner. 

Ian lies on his back that night, thinking about why someone would want to beat him up. And the only thing he can think of is Mandy. Mandy has a line of brothers and cousins that could potentially be Ian’s soulmate. She could have asked one of them to beat him up because he rejected her. He turns on his side and closes his eyes, deciding to talk to Mandy as soon as possible. Maybe his soulmate is related to her? Who knows, maybe it’s not her and he needs to figure out who wants him dead before they attack again. 

—

“Get the fuck away from me, asshole,” Mandy says when he approaches her the next day in the lunchroom. 

“Mandy, can we talk?” Ian says, looking around nervously. 

She glances away from him, “I have nothing to say to you.”

“Mandy please, it won’t take long,” Ian responds desperately. 

Mandy, surprisingly, looks back at him. She looks at his desperate face and rolls her eyes.

“Yea, whatever,” she says and starts walking. Ian has no choice but to follow her. 

They go outside, to the back of the bleachers, and finally she turns to him.

“Well?” She says gesturing towards him. “What did you want to talk about?”

Ian fidgets, not looking at Mandy again. “Did you set your brothers or cousins on me?”

Mandy laughs. Ian looks at her.

“Yea, asshole,” she says. 

Ian freezes. That means his suspicion about his soulmate being someone related to Mandy is spot on. “Why?” He asks her after a pause. 

She shrugs. “‘Cause you rejected me, duh.” 

Ian sighs, closing his eyes. “And that’s reason enough to sic your scary relatives on me?”

Mandy shrugs again. 

“Mandy, why did you do that?” He asks, starting to feel annoyed.

Mandy glares at him. “Because you insulted me.”

“I didn’t insult you, I refused to have sex with you because you’re not my soulmate,” Ian replies, perhaps a bit too forcefully.

Mandy scoffs. “Whatever asshole, that’s just an excuse. You’re not attracted to me.”

She is right, but what he had said isn’t a lie either. He looks at her again, at her drawn eyebrows and the way she keeps moving from one foot to another, and decides to tell her the truth.

“You’re right,” he says. “I’m not attracted to you.”

Mandy’s eyes widen. She opens her mouth to say something, but Ian keeps going.

“In fact, I’ve never been attracted to any girl. Ever,” he says, looking straight at her.

Mandy seems confused. “What?” She says, after opening and closing her mouth twice.

“I’m gay, Mandy,” Ian says, turning his back to her. “Even if the soulmate thing was a lie,” he stops to look at her again. “Which it is not, by the way, even though you don’t believe me.” Mandy scoffs and Ian goes on. “Even if that was a lie, I still wouldn’t sleep with you, because I’m gay and you’re a girl.”

Mandy seems to consider this for a moment. “So your soulmate is a dude?” She asks after a minute.

Ian nods, thinking the answer should be obvious.

Mandy considers that. Ian looks at her nervously. Finally, she seems to come to a decision. 

“I’ll call my brothers off,” she says, smiling at Ian. “It’s not your fault you’re not attracted to me.”

She takes out a cigarette and lights it, then offers it to Ian. Ian accepts it without thought, too focused on the word _brothers_ to care about what’s going on around him.

—

True to her word, Mandy calls off her brothers. She tells him this as they eat lunch the next day. Somehow, Mandy had started talking to Ian during their history class and never stopped. Ian doesn’t really mind. She’s funny and interesting and doesn’t smell like half the boys in his class do. So he sits and listens to her talk about everything, and when he has to leave her at the end of their lunch break, he feels reluctant.

They eat lunch together for the rest of the week, and Ian doesn’t ask Mandy about any of her brothers.

On Friday, Mandy asks Ian over to hang out. Ian agrees immediately.

Mandy’s house is surprisingly clean and organized. Mandy explains her mother’s obsession with keeping her house clean and her kids educated to him as she makes them popcorn.

“She forced my brothers to go to college,” She says, handing him the bowl and sitting on the couch. “Two of them actually got scholarships and shit.”

Ian sits down next to her. “How many brothers do you have?”

“Five,” she says casually. 

Ian gasps. Five brothers, one of whom is his soulmate.  “So which ones did you send after me?” He asks, as casually as he can.

Mandy laughs and punches him in the arm. “Doesn’t matter,” she says, turning towards the TV. “What do you want to watch?”

Ian shrugs. He settles down to watch _Sister Wives_ with Mandy and listens to her trash it until her mother comes home. 

Mandy’s mom is a sweet woman. She gives Ian a hug, tells him she’s heard so much about him, and offers to have him over for dinner. 

“My two younger boys are coming home for dinner too,” she says to Ian as she puts on an apron. “They’re in college you know, but they come home to visit and eat my food.”

Ian’s heart beats uncomfortably at that.

“I don’t want to be an inconvenience,” he says reluctantly. Reluctant because he wants to stay so bad, but he really doesn’t want to impose.

“Nonsense,” she responds. “I’m making the food anyways, the more the merrier and all, right?”

Ian smiles. “Ok, if you don’t mind,” he says and Mandy’s mother smiles. 

“Of course I don’t mind,” she says, and shoos him away.

He sits with Mandy again, leaning on her to get comfortable. 

“So,” he begins when her mother leaves the room. “Where’s your dad?”

Mandy looks him up and down. “Dead,” she says.

“What?” Ian asks incredulously. 

“Died in prison five years ago,” she says, looking away from him. “Good riddance.”

Ian looks at her for a moment before shaking his head. “I’m sorry?”

She shrugs. “Don’t be, he was an asshole.”

“Were he and your mom…?”

Mandy shakes her head. “Hell if I know. She’s been doing so much better after he died though. Got a job, started supporting us. Pushed us to go to school and shit.”

Ian wants to change the subject after that. He turns to the TV and sees that _Sister Wives_ is still on. 

“Couldn’t have been her soulmate though,” Mandy says, looking at the tv. “If she’s so happy without him.”

She surprises Ian with this statement. But he agrees with her. She laughs at him when he tells her that.

“Of course, asshole, you’re holding out on sex until you meet your soulmate.”

Ian shrugs. “I want it to be special and shit.”

Mandy rolls her eyes. “Whatever floats your boat, asshole.” 

—

Ian isn’t actually around when Mandy’s brothers come home. He goes to pee in the bathroom and starts freaking out, so he’s actually there, looking at himself in the mirror, telling himself that there’s only a 2 out of 5 chance that one of the visiting brothers will be his soulmate, when he hears knock on the door.

“Hey fuckface, you done shitting in there?” Comes the voice that has been echoing in Ian’s head for the past week. He freezes— _again,_ he freezes again because of course— and, for a moment, doesn’t know what to do. He almost opens his mouth to respond, but he stops himself. Instead, he walks to the bathroom door, takes a deep breath, and opens it.

There’s no one on the other side, which is actually really fucking disappointing. Ian had hyped himself up for this, had to talk himself into it, and now the asshole is gone.

And then, out of nowhere—

“Thank fuck,” says a short burst of black hair, and before Ian has a chance to glimpse his face, the bathroom door closes.

Ian leans against a pillar opposite the bathroom door. He closes his eyes, sighing, and focuses on the beat of his heart. 

That one burst of black hair currently in the bathroom is Ian’s soulmate. 

Ian opens his eyes as the door to the bathroom opens. His eyes dart from feature to feature quickly, attempting to drink in every detail before the boy disappears. They move, too fast, from the boy’s chin, to his eyes, to his hair, and then to his chest. Ian forces himself to slow down. He can’t be looking at a stranger like this.

But this stranger is his soulmate. 

“The fuck are you looking at?” Says the boy, closing the bathroom door behind him.

Ian tries to respond but he’s frozen, he can’t speak.

The guy runs his thumb along his mouth and looks away when Ian doesn’t speak.

“Ian right?” He asks, and Ian finds the strength to nod. “Look man, sorry about the other day. You know Mandy said you messed with her.”

Ian still can’t speak. He wants to say it was alright, that he doesn’t care, that the boy is his soulmate, but his mouth stays shut.

He manages to shrug though. Nonchalantly. At least there is that. 

“You alright man?” The boy asks, and Ian nods again. He gestures behind him, towards where he thinks Mandy is sitting, and turns before the boy says anything else. 

Mandy’s head pops up as Ian leans into her space from behind the couch to mutter, “Listen Mandy, I gotta go home, something came up.”

Mandy turns to look at him, but Ian is already walking away. He raises a hand to wave at Mandy, doesn’t turn his head to look at the boy that’s his soulmate, and starts running the minute he’s out the Milkoviches’ door.

—

Ian tells Mandy the next day that the reason he left so suddenly was because his sister needed him. She sighs on the phone and tells him her brother thinks Ian is weird.

As casually as he possibly can, Ian asks Mandy. “Which brother is this?”

“Mickey,” Mandy says, sounding exasperated. “You know, the one that was in the bathroom?”

“Mickey,” Ian wants to repeat. That’s his soulmate’s name, and Ian had to find it out from someone who isn’t his soulmate. 

“He asked if you were mute?” Mandy adds. “Did you say nothing to him?”

“Nope,” Ian answers. Not mute, just tongue-tied. “Listen, do your brothers live with you?”

“Nah, not really,” Mandy answers, and Ian hears shuffling, like she’s laying down. “They live in the dorms at their school.” 

Ian hums. “What school is that?” 

“Chicago State University,” Mandy says quickly. “Assholes got a fuckton of financial aid cause we’re dirt poor.”

“What do they study?” Ian asks, making sure to use the word they, instead of just Mickey.

“Mickey’s doing accounting,” Mandy says, and Ian doesn’t actually care enough to listen to what she tells him her brother Joey is studying.

Ian nods when he thinks she’s done speaking about Joey, though she can’t see him. “That’s really cool,” he says, for lack of a better word. His soulmate is from the shitty side of town, but he’s actually going to college. Studying something useful. That’s really good, right?

“You wanna hang out?” He says after that. He can go to Mandy’s house when her brothers are not around, because he’s a coward. Also he wants to apologize to Mandy’s mom for bailing the night before.

—

Ian spends a lot of time with Mandy. Two weeks after they first become friends, on a Saturday, he finds himself sitting cross-legged on her living room couch, looking through an old family album.

Mandy points at every member of her family as she turns the pages, giving Ian a spiel about every single one of them. 

“My mom made these two years ago, after she’d gotten a steady job. She thinks she’s like a fucking housewife on tv with all this shit,” Mandy says as she turns the page from her fourth brother to her fifth.

“Ah, Mickey, he’s the youngest of the douchebags,” she says fondly. 

Ian stares at the image of Mickey as an infant, as a toddler, on his first day of elementary school. 

“Mom’s always been sensitive to this shit,” Mandy says, and Ian’s barely paying attention to her. Looking at pictures of his soulmate growing up with anticipation. He thinks, maybe if Mickey wasn’t his soulmate, maybe if he didn’t know that Mickey was his soulmate, he wouldn’t be feeling this way. But then, Mandy turns another page and there she is with Mickey, the two of them smiling and looking fondly at each other, and a shiver goes up Ian’s spine.

“When your brothers lived here,” he begins, not really sure what he’s about to ask. “Where did they live?”

Mandy looks up from the album and furrows her brows. “You mean where their rooms are?”

“Yea,” Ian says quietly.

Mandy looks at him quizzically. Then she gestures behind her at the doors. “That’s my room, as you know,” she says, pointing to the door on the right. “That’s Mickey’s room,” she says pointing to the door next to hers. “Iggy and Joey live downstairs.”

“You have a downstairs?” Ian says, not taking his eyes off Mickey’s door. 

“Yea man,” Mandy says. “Mom had it all redone with her first tax return so Iggy and Joey could move down there and we’d all have our own room.”

Mandy turns her attention back to the album after that, showing Ian pictures of her as a baby, pictures of her and her brothers. 

They sit there for another half an hour, looking at pictures until Mandy gets tired. “Hey, I’m gonna take a shower,” she says to him. “You don’t mind hanging out alone for ten minutes do you?”

Ian shakes his head. 

“Good,” she smiles, bending down to kiss him on the cheek. “I’ll be back before you know it.” She disappears towards the bathroom and suddenly, Ian finds himself alone in the Milkovich living room. 

He tries, really really hard, to keep mind off Mickey’s old room. But what if, when Mickey had left for college, he hadn’t taken everything. What if he’d left some interesting things behind. Things Ian can use to learn more about him. 

Before he knows it, Ian is standing up and walking to Mickey’s door. His hand on the knob trembles, but he manages to turn it. He opens the door, his heart beating wildly to find the very shirtless back of one Mickey Milkovich.

Ian freezes. In the back of his mind, he thinks how odd it is that he seems to freeze every time he’s around Mickey. 

On the other side of the room Mickey turns around, his eyebrows drawn together in surprise.

“What the hell, man?” He says, and his voice, to Ian, sounds angry.

Which is exactly why Ian says what he says next. Because he’s afraid, and the fear that bubbles up from inside of him consumes any apprehension he’s had about speaking to Mickey.

“I’m sorry,” he says as Mickey starts to walk towards him. “I didn’t know you’d be here, I’m sorry, please don’t hurt me.”

Mickey stops in his tracks. 

A second passes before Ian realizes why.

Another second passes in silence and Ian suddenly has the urge to run. As if reading his thoughts, or the expression on his face, Mickey raises a hand.

“Don’t run,” he says, though his voice wavers.

Ian runs anyway. 

He’s barely made it out of Mickey’s room before a hand grabs his arm and makes him stop. Mickey Milkovich turns him around, but doesn’t let go of him. 

Ian looks at his feet, as time passes. He feels like Mickey is waiting for something, maybe for him to say something, but Ian won’t. Well… he can’t.

“You knew,” Mickey finally says. 

Ian swallows, but says nothing.

“Jesus Christ,” Mickey sighs, “Of course you knew.”

Ian continues to look at his feet. There’s a stain on his left boot and he’s not sure how he’s going to get it out.

Mickey’s other hand, the one not holding him place, comes up and he touches Ian’s face. It travels down his cheek and he grabs Ian’s chin, tilting it upward so Ian has no choice but to look straight.

“Why didn’t you say anything?” He asks, his voice hoarse. 

Ian wants to shrug. To say he doesn’t know. But he does know. He was afraid. He was afraid because Mickey’s first words to him had been so violent, and he was afraid because he had ran away after he had first heard them, and he was afraid because he’d been waiting for his soulmate for years and he thought he might do something stupid to mess it up.

He doesn’t say anything, he just swallows again and fixes his gaze on Mickey’s chin.

Mickey curses, dropping his hand from Ian’s chin. Ian misses his touch the minute it’s gone.

“Gone mute again, Annie?”

Ian looks up at the nickname. 

Mickey is smiling a bit at Ian’s surprised expression. 

“Cat got your tongue?” He says, his smile growing.

Ian feels a smile tugging out his own lips. He shakes his head. 

“No I,” he swallows, his voice sounds entirely too hoarse. “I just, don’t know what to say.”

Mickey rolls his eyes. “How about, hey asshole, maybe next time don’t threaten to kill your soulmate?” He says, his smile still intact. 

Ian drops his head, a laugh escaping his mouth despite his muddled feelings. “Yea maybe,” he looks up at Mickey again, feeling a bit more brave. “But those words aren't tattooed on your body.”

Mickey lets go of Ian’s arm, and Ian feels legitimately saddened by that. “Why’d you do that?” He asks, when Mickey doesn’t say anything.

“Do what?” Mickey asks.

“Let go.” Ian replies.

Mickey shrugs. “It was a little weird, don’t you think?” He asks.

“No,” Ian says immediately. “I liked it.”

Mickey looks at Ian from under his lashes but he changes the subject. “So why did it take you two weeks and an accident to talk to me?” He asks.

He actually sounds unhappy. Maybe hurt. Ian fidgets.

“Well, you know, I ran that first time, and then when I finally met you, like,” Ian stops and gestures towards their faces, “face to face, I was, a bit… terrified.”

Mickey raises his eyebrows, looking at Ian like he thinks Ian’s full of shit. “That right?” He asks incredulously.

“Yea I just,” Ian looks for the right words. Speaking to Mickey is still difficult. He wants to. He has so many things to say to Mickey, but the words keep getting stuck in his throat. He wants to look at Mickey, to touch him. Instead, he forces himself to speak. “Psyched myself out. I was scared.”

Mickey bites his lip. Ian finds it extremely distracting.

“Yea, sorry about that,” he says. He’s not looking at Ian as he goes on. “Guess if I hadn’t done that, you wouldn’t have run, huh?”

Ian shrugs. He takes a step towards Mickey, wanting to be closer to him. “Doesn’t matter now, does it?”

Mickey looks up at Ian. His eyes are really blue, like pale blue. Ian wants to kiss him. Ian probably wanted to kiss him from the moment he heard Mickey’s voice. Still, he hesitates. He’s been hesitating since he found out Mickey was his soulmates.

Mickey makes an impatient noise. Like he’s waiting for Ian to make a move.

“Did you know,” Ian starts, bringing his hands to Mickey’s face, stopping himself from running them across his bare chest. “I’ve never kissed anyone before.”

He feels Mickey’s hands on his waist, wants to look down and see them there, but he doesn’t want to look away from Mickey’s eyes. 

“Really?” Mickey asks, voice an octave lower. “Guy like you? I’m supposed to believe that’s true?”

“Didn’t want to kiss people who weren’t my soulmate,” Ian says, bringing his face closer to Mickey’s, until their noses are touching. 

“I don’t believe you,” Mickey breathes against Ian’s lips. Ian can feel the smile against his lips as Mickey leans in and presses his lips against Ian’s. Ian feels his breath catch, and he opens his mouth, wanting the kiss to deepen. Mickey follows his lead, opening his mouth and running his tongue along Ian’s bottom lip. Ian’s hands travel up Mickey’s head, grabbing at his short hair as he tilted Mickey’s head backward, deepening the kiss, pressing his body against Mickey’s.

“Shit,” Ian says when they break apart. “I mean I have nothing to compare that to but it was—“

“Amazing,” Mickey cuts in, breathing hard. “I have things to compare that to, but that was literally, amazing.”

Ian feels a pang of jealousy at that, but then he looks at Mickey. At his at his glazed eyes, his heaving chest, and he let’s that jealousy go. 

Mickey smiles at him. “Damn dude,” he says. “For someone’s claiming he’s never kissed anyone before,” Mickey stops in the middle of his sentence and looks at Ian.

Ian feels his cheeks heating up. “Well I mean, it’s supposed to be that good right?”

“Hells yea,” Mickey says, grinning. He reaches over and grabs Ian’s hand, squeezing. “I’m really sorry, you know, for being an assface. Mandy just made it sound like you attacked her.”

Ian looked at their hands, then back at Mickey. “Whatever dude. Let it go.”

Mickey looks around the hallway. “Where’s Mandy?” He asks.

“Shower,” Ian answers without thinking. 

Mickey looks back towards his room, then at Ian. He looks like he’s about to ask Ian into his room and Ian feels his body start to heat up.

“You want to watch something on TV?” Mickey asks.

Ian nods, disappointment and relief battling for dominance in his chest.

—

Mandy finds them ten minutes later, holding hands, with Ian’s head resting on Mickey’s shoulder, eyes fixed on the tv.

“What the fuck?” She asks, her voice startling the two of them out of their daze.

“The fuck is wrong with you?” Mickey asks, not letting go of Ian in any way.

Mandy gestures at them, as if whatever is wrong with her should be obvious.

When neither of them say anything—Ian smiles—she speaks again. “You’re fucking holding hands!” She says, exasperated. “I thought you didn’t get with people who weren’t your soulmate asshole.”

Ian’s smile grows bigger and understanding dawns on Mandy.

“Holy shit. No way!” She says and drops next to Ian. “Let me fucking see.”

Ian reluctantly disentangles his hand from Mickey’s. He lifts his sleeve to show Mandy her tattoo.

“‘You have ten seconds to run before I bash your head in’?” Mandy read incredulously. She turns to Mickey. “When did you say that to him?”

“About two weeks ago,” Ian answers and Mandy glares. 

“You knew my brother was your soulmate two weeks ago?”

Ian shrugs. “More or less.”

“Ok one thing,” she says. “You didn’t start coming here because of him right?”

This time, it’s Mickey who scoffs. “Are you kidding? He ran away from me like five times.”

“Twice,” Ian corrects. “Well, you set your relatives on me, and like, I wanted to know about my soulmate, so sort of? But I kinda started liking you a lot that first day.”

Mandy shrugs. “Alright. Congrats I guess,” she says and turns towards her room. “No funny business while I go dry my hair. This is a house of purity and shit.”

Ian and Mickey wait until the door to her room is closed before jumping on each other. 

That is, until Mandy pops her head out of her room. 

“Oh and Mickey?” They both turn to look at her. “Put a shirt on, you look like a jackass,” she says, and closes the door.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm [here](http://nana-gallagher.tumblr.com) on tumblr. Come say hello and talk about Shameless with me. Seriously.


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